


Words from the Secret City

by HASA_Archivist



Category: The Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: First Age, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2006-11-06
Packaged: 2018-03-26 01:23:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3831933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HASA_Archivist/pseuds/HASA_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A last gasp of divinity turns back<br/>to a time when poems had the power to steal a heart,<br/>to a time when a touch on the hand meant purest love,<br/>and we were content.</p><p>For Ereinion, on his ninth birthday.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Song of Wind

**Author's Note:**

> Note from the HASA Transition Team: This story was originally archived at [HASA](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Henneth_Ann%C3%BBn_Story_Archive), which closed in February 2015. To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in February 2015. We posted announcements about the move, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this author, please contact The HASA Transition Team using the e-mail address on the [HASA collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/hasa/profile).

 

In those streets, an old wind stirs the memory  
Of ancient life and sorrow,  
Flying like sparks between gate and tower.  
Fickle as snow.  
Those who remain will sing to brand the city  
With the fire of lost bodies,  
So that in further years  
They, too, will shed history  
Onto listeners among the stones.


	2. The Secret City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A last gasp of divinity turns back

 

You can see, child, in your dreaming eyes,  
Unmatched splendour of a land long gone:  
Unused sword on empty throne,  
Silver light by moonless skies.

You can hear, child, in your dreaming mind,  
Fair faint chimes from the secret locked tower.  
Ghostly voices mourn the hour,  
Echo fading song and line.

You will weep, child, when the grasp is gone,  
When the mist comes down around your soul,  
Western law denies your goal  
Banished, too, from Tirion.


	3. Song of Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A last gasp of divinity turns back

 

The waiting dimness can by faith be lit.  
A fearsome ending can through strength yet heal.  
The song inside a clear mind will reveal  
Devoted light past what the world permits.  
One's love and sureness can a loss transcend.  
Our memories are perfect in their form,  
As thoughts cannot be battered by the storm  
Of passing time, destructive to the end.

 

Though pride of kings will flee these greying lands,  
The glory of the Eldar will not leave,  
As long as courage strengthens simple hands  
And songs of light attend those who believe.


	4. Moonbright, Treelight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A last gasp of divinity turns back

 

The moon as bright as silver light  
On snow so cold  
Shines shimmering

A welcome thrill in winter's chill  
Crisp crystalline  
Gleams glistening

The moon in wise and widened eyes  
Brings branching beams: moon-tree he seems

Telperion by Sirion  
Sails shy in sky  
Light lingering

My memory of sacred tree's  
High hallowed hill  
Flits flickering

Lost silver leaf with withered grief  
Still lives within its moon-made twin


	5. The Beautiful End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A last gasp of divinity turns back

  
The earth is healed at the beautiful end,  
When dark winds dwindle into memory  
For Eastern souls in Western war  
Or Western minds in Eastern lands.  
  
Demands of power occupy each day.  
They cut belief with shallow doubt, or worse.  
Rehearse your faith. The master song,  
Long forgotten in hasty pride,  
Guides those who humbly hear.  
Steer by its harmony.  
  
On he who recognises Eru's skill  
Will rest the spark of knowledge in the void.  
Destroyed in reckless vanity,  
The art of life grew hard and grey.  
Say now, what have we lost?  
Most favour of Aman.  
Plan to return.  
Learn the road home.  
  
No more can we think, 'This is how it will  
Still be, in the countless years that might pass  
As our fates stretch on.' Say in place,  
'Haste to be free!' From falseness and  
Grand, selfish thoughts. All that,  
At the beautiful end.  
When darkness falls,  
All song returns,  
Burns true  
through night:  
Bright  
Light.


	6. In This Room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A last gasp of divinity turns back

  
  
In this, the Prince's room, he lays his head  
within the pillow's soft embrace: his bed  
a warming haven from the strictness of  
his proper courtly life.  There kings above  
and lords below wear masks of courtesy  
in faithless posing to their peers.  To see,  
they claim, who fully lives the law of false  
promises spoken long ago from halls  
no longer remembered on these far shores.  
The Words of Valinor, which one adores  
outright in speech, can seem tarnished after  
ashen, empty years.  The Lady cast her  
stars too high above these hills to protect  
our foolish ways and reckless hearts.  Collect  
again that innocence in dreams within  
this room.   A dream-lit soul alone can win.


End file.
